In These Golden Hours
by Allstarry707
Summary: And in these golden hours, the moments seemed to slow and minutes became hours as hours became days. Because when Annabeth was near Percy or Percy was peering through his lens, the moments truly were never enough. OR- Percy is a photographer, a junior in college, and Annabeth is sophomore who just needs a little more time. Percabeth. AU. One shot.


**In These Golden Hours**  
 **Summary:** And in these golden hours, the moments seemed to slow and minutes became hours as hours became days. Because when Annabeth was near Percy or peering through his lens, the moments truly were never enough. OR- Percy is a photographer, a junior in college, and Annabeth is sophomore who just needs a little more time. | | Percabeth. AU. One shot.

 **Word Count:** 21,300+  
 **Cover thanks:** Percabeth art by thecottonproject (tumblr)  
 **Disclaimer** : I don't own PJO.  
 **Warnings** : photographer!Percy, snapback!Percy, undercut!Percy, with a small hint of girly!Annabeth, a little bit of slow burn, and a couple mentions of adult themes

 **A/N** : Hello, it's me. I was wondering if all these years if I you'd like to read to see how rusty I am.

P.S. OTD is not dead, just yet, and I'm still getting around to reading PMs. :)

xx

* * *

 **In These Golden Hours**

…

Annabeth pulled at the edge of her thin scarf, exiting the elevator when the ding announced her floor. She silently hoped, as she stepped out that the door would be left open and that she wouldn't have to knock. Her phone had died thirty minutes ago, and she was jittery enough waiting for the takeout to arrive. She didn't need to now not have access to the photography office just because she couldn't reach her friend.

Letting out a breath she didn't know she was holding, she tugged at the bottom of her shirt, placing one foot wrapped in a flat in front of the other. The door was open, and while she immediately regretted her lack of a jacket and cropped shorts, despite it being September, she was thankful for the gusts of AC that chilled her quickly and silently.

"The things I do for her," she muttered, several feet away from the door and nearing a person who was certainly not Rachel.

With his head bent done over his laptop, she could barely make out his face besides the long, raven hair that was stuffed under a blue fitted cap. His cap, a snapback she assumed, was embellished with a husky, and she pondered briefly if that was because he loved dogs or if it was a mascot for one of his favorite teams. Ultimately, she barely gave it thought as she moved closer, scanning her eyes over the peeling stickers that lined his laptop. Some overlapped others with their fraying ends, but there were still patches of black that had not a single sticker near them.

He glanced up when she passed the frame, pressing down the lid of his laptop so that it didn't block his face.

"Hey," he greeted, clearing his throat at the raspy voice that was let out.

Annabeth sent a small smile, tracing the planes of his face that seemed somehow so familiar. From the corners of his eyes, to his long lashes that shaded striking eyes, to the purse of his lips as he waited for a reply. "Hi," she offered, clutching the bag of food in her hand more tightly. "Do I— You seem familiar, she managed, ending the searching of his features to look right above his head.

He must of shrugged or nodded, Annabeth noted with the slight movement that caught her eye. "I mean, yeah, I guess I'm not surprised."

She waited, expecting him to explain why, but instead he leaned back against his chair, waiting to meet her eyes. Annabeth sighed, meeting his gaze before tracing the lines of the all too familiar face.

"We went to the same high school, didn't we?" she finally reasoned with a tilt of her head, tugging at a strand of recognition.

The corners of his mouth tilted up into a shy grin that set Annabeth's stomach in knots. "Yeah," he nodded, tapping four fingers against the table, "you're Annabeth Chase, valedictorian from two years ago."

"And you're…"

"Percy," he added easily, "Jackson, somewhere in top 30 percent somehow, someway."

Annabeth nodded, shifting her weight from foot to foot. "I didn't know anyone else from the school went here—"

"I don't!" He quickly spoke, adjusting the snapback that sat on his head. "I don't," he repeated, somewhat slower and calmer this time. "I have a friend… Jason who goes here. He's a freshman, but he was having a tough time adjusting. And I just…" He bit his lip, stopping his ramblings with a sigh. "I just spent a lot of time here at the beginning of the semester, and he felt bad. So, I figured I'd join the photography group." He shrugged with a shaky sigh. "It gave another reason for me to be around here a lot more, and he seemed to feel a bit better about that."

She nodded, feeling as though she now had a piece of him while he knew nothing about her. "That's… nice," the word tasted sour on her lips, and she wasn't sure when she had become so bad at holding a normal conversation.

"Sorry," he muttered, shaking his head, "I'm guessing you're not here to hear all about my life story. Anyways, why are you here?"

She tossed a smile his way, "It's fine, and I'm supposed to be having dinner with a friend. I was supposed to meet her here, but it seems like she's not here…"

"Oh," Percy nodded with recognition, but confusion held in his eyes, "is your major architecture?"

She nodded, not sure how this had anything to do with her friend not being there. He frowned when she said nothing more, narrowing his eyes slightly.

"So, I'm guessing your friend's Rachel, and I'm guessing you're in Design and Structures II. Basically, I had this idea for a photo project, and I had this idea to shoot some stuff in the studios… I mean, I've… Rachel told me she had a friend in that class. She said you'd probably be coming around here at seven if I happened to be here and that I could ask you any questions if I had any…" He trailed off, his eyes still narrow as though uncertain as to why she was here anymore.

"I see," Annabeth nodded, pursing her lips together. "So, I'm guessing Rachel's not here."

He nodded, shrugging a shoulder and sliding his chair back a bit. "She left to get dinner about half an hour ago. She said something about needing to get out of here before she became a ghost who haunted the darkroom."

She rolled her eyes, taking the corner of her bottom lip into her mouth. She thought she saw Percy's gaze shift but disregarded it almost immediately. "Well, I'll see you around I guess?"

He quirked the corner of his lip up in reply throwing in a, "Yeah, tomorrow at two."

"Right," she affirmed while nodding, staying a beat longer before turning on her heel, "see you tomorrow at two."

…

Annabeth didn't see him, at least not in her Design and Structures II class, and she wasn't really looking for him at all. She recalled earlier in the year where one of the professors for her design class told everyone that they would be having a photographer floating around the class. It was over two weeks ago when the professor had stated that people could opt out. Annabeth hadn't given it much though; she was a stickler for her table that lined the window and would not let a photographer stop her from sitting her. She now knew the photographer had a name, Percy, and a face with a mouth that settled itself into a lopsided smile. She, however, didn't see him that day nor the next.

…

"Do you want to be a doll and bring me dinner to the photography office at seven?" Rachel pleaded, running her fingers over the camera in her other hand.

Annabeth narrowed her eyes, remembering the previous night when she was supposed to meet her friend there. "Will you actually _be_ there, this time?"

Rachel sent her a sheepish smile, stopping at the crosswalk. "Yeah, of course, I just forgot about yesterday."

Annabeth rolled her eyes, playing with the buttons of her blouse. She tucked her scarf more neatly into the folds of itself before laying her eyes on a squeamish Rachel. She sighed, "Why did you want me to meet Percy? And by the way, we've already met."

Rachel shrugged a shoulder, snapping a photo before giving an answer. "He's nice, and I figured you'd like him."

"Rachel," Annabeth chastised, "I just got out of a relationship almost five weeks ago—"

"Which is good because he was a jerk," Rachel threw in, causing Annabeth to roll her eyes with a slight frown.

She sighed, "He wasn't always like that, and I'm not ready for another relationship."

"There's nothing wrong with a friendship," Rachel added, muttering something under her breath that Annabeth couldn't decipher.

"If he's so great, why don't you date him?"

Rachel chuckled, running a hand through her frizzy hair, "He's not my type, and I'll never be able to see him as more than a friend." She sighed, setting her eyes on Annabeth with a slight frown. "He's around a lot because of his freshman friend, and I figured since he was shooting your class, you guys might get along. He could use some more friends who don't spend all of their time in the photography room or don't spend all of their time worrying about finishing freshmen classes. How'd today go by the way?"

"Fine," Annabeth sent a small smile, rolling her eyes when Rachel gave her a look asking for more. "Today was just like any other Wednesday, and no, I didn't even see Percy in Design today," she added as they crossed the street.

Rachel nodded, putting the camera strap over her shoulder, a confused look settling on her face. "He was supposed to be there… Did you even look for him?"

"No."

"Annabeth—"

"Rachel, Design II is for doing a ridiculous amount of sketches and trying not to have to spend my nights in the studio as well. I'm not going to spend the three hours looking for some guy who I just officially met the night before who's supposed to be taking pictures."

Rachel tilted her head from side-to-side, and Annabeth knew that was her way of trying to find something to add in for a "but." Ultimately, she didn't seem to find one. "Fair but like I said there's nothing wrong with another friend."

Annabeth shook her head. If Rachel was anything, she was certainly persistent. "How about the second you figure out a way to add more hours to the day, I'll start thinking about making more friends to suck up my time."

"So positive," Rachel jeered.

 **…**

It happened one week later. Annabeth had headed back into the studio from a bathroom break when she saw him. He stood only a couple feet from her beloved table, squinting down at the camera in his hands. She was certain the light from the window couldn't have done anything to help with viewing whatever was on his camera, but she surmised that it was one of the few areas in the studio that wasn't littered with paper or pencils or rulers or boards.

Despite his squinting and the tip of his tongue that darted out of his mouth in concentration, Annabeth felt that same strand of recognition pull at her memory. She wasn't sure what her mind was trying to remember, but she was certain that she knew more about him than that they just went to the same school. He glanced up at her as she made her way to the table, tossing her a wave and a lopsided grin that made her roll her eyes but nod her head in recognition.

His snapback was blue that day, she noted, seeing the way it complimented the hue of his shirt and shade of his shoes. She decided he matched nicely.

 **…**

It wasn't that she was trying to learn more about him, but it just sort of happened that way. They had 54 mutual friends. He didn't make all of his photos private, and she scrunched her nose at each watermark that he had recycled through—many of the iterations being some form of "PJ." They were fairly plain and not in a good way, she had decided.

What she couldn't wrap her head around, though, was his presence. They ran into each other more often than she would have liked because each and every time, he took it upon himself to talk to her. It started out with simple greetings, but it slowly became conversations that she'd entertained through pursed lips. She ultimately decided he was nice but also decided that she didn't have time for friends.

And after that moment of decision, his presence only seemed to increase.

She saw him once at a play reading. Annabeth was there to support her friend, but she was certain that the cameraman with the messy black hair who sat a couple rows up was him. He was far too distracting, and she had begun to resent him for it when every couple of minutes, her eyes had flit to him, watching the way he adjusted his camera strap or how he ran his fingers through his hair before setting his snapback back onto his head. She thought that a photographer was supposed to be far less distracting from the show.

Several days later, she was certain she saw him again. This time, he wore a blue plaid shirt that blew freely in the wind with a pair of skinny jeans that were still somewhat loose. He was walking meandering around the auditorium, a penny-board and camera in hand, and she felt her grip tighten at the sight of him. She quickened her pace across the lawn and set her eyes in front of herself. If she was honest, she would say her stomach dropped at the sight of him, but she chalked that up to having skipped breakfast and lunch.

He'd approached her a couple times to say hi, and she'd greeted him with lukewarm words and a slightly cooler smile. Sometimes he was with a blonde boy who smiled sheepishly at her—she later learned his name was Jason, and she and Jason lived in the same dorm—but other times he was alone with simply his camera and board.

Her was sitting in her student center once. It was a weekend, and there were far too many tourists and kids in _her_ student center for her liking. His hands fiddled with the camera in his lap, and his body slumped against the brown couch. She noted his messy hair and lack of a jacket and hat. She was certain that he was going to catch a cold but quickened her pace when she realized she only had seven minutes until the shuttle and still needed to buy something from the convenience store.

When she left the store, in a record breaking four minutes along with a sandwich and a coffee, her eyes glanced to the couch, but it was empty. She let out a breath she didn't know she was holding and aimlessly walked to the shuttle stop. Her hands were held tightly around the coffee cup, and she blew warm air into it to cool her coffee down every couple of minutes. It was until the shuttle was starting to cross the bridge that she noticed the messy black hair sitting at the front. Her eyes locked on him, and she tilted her coffee just a tad bit too much, ending up with a mouthful. He got off at the first stop, and he kept an even pace as he set off into the city.

She decided then and there that she was tired of him being on her campus.

 **…**

Annabeth hadn't expected it at all. She hadn't expected the picture. She hadn't expected the caption. She hadn't expected the three-hundred plus likes.

"'The golden hour,'" she mumbled under her breath, scrunching her nose.

It wasn't a bad picture. In fact, if she was being honest, it was quite good. She was sitting in front of one of the many windows in the architecture studio, bent over one of her sketches. Her hair was golden from the incoming light, and she seemed at peace somehow, someway despite the lack of sleep and coffee cup that lay next to her. If she was honest, she loved the picture, but for some reason, a part of her wanted to dislike it. She wanted to find something bad in the picture; she wanted to find something to criticize, but the only thing that she could come up with was that she should more evenly fold the sleeves of her shirt.

She huffed, quickly sending a text to her friend who alerted her of this picture, stating that it was merely fine. She wouldn't give it anything more than that, and she knew the second that her phone quietly buzzed that Piper was calling her out on it. She muted the vibration.

So, it was a good picture—she would finally admit—but she still was not sure why it garnered so many likes. She flipped through several that came after it and a couple before it. There was nothing wrong with those pictures, but they certainly did not have hundreds of likes. They tended to stop at thirty or forty at most. She frowned. What was it about this picture?

Her eyes analyzed every pixel twice, trying to find something, anything that would tell her why this picture had been so popular—why so many people who didn't even know her had liked it. However, the more she gazed at it, the faster her composure started to melt, and the sooner she began to love it even more.

She could use a new profile picture, she briefly remarked before making a couple mouse clicks and repositioning it into a fashion that she liked. Her caption, well, it was pretty simple.

"PC: Percy Jackson Photography."

 **…**

There was no way else to describe it. Annabeth Chase was having a hell of a week. She overslept breakfast for five days straight, and it was only Thursday.

On Monday, her coffee had split across her white sneakers, and her laces had now settled to a faded brown. On Tuesday, she hadn't actually plugged her laptop in the night before, and she left her pencil pouch on her desk when she headed out for class. She was left taking pictures of the lectures on her phone, and she was unable to reread the online exam materials like she had wanted to do throughout the day. She rushed to her dorm which lead to a rushed dinner, and her exam felt rushed when the time ended the second she finished the last page. She didn't have time to check her work.

On Wednesday, she'd overslept and missed her literature class. Participation was mandatory, and she had now used her one free day for no good reason. The zipper broke on her backpack, and it was pouring that day. The corners of her notebooks were soaked, and her pages were wrinkled. She chucked the sopping backpack in the trash, after purchasing an overpriced one from her school's co-op.

On Thursday, well, if she was being honest with herself, it wasn't that bad. Sure, she was going to have to spend her night in the studio, and sure, she hadn't showered in four days. However, her clothes weren't wrinkled, and her new white laces were supposed to come in that day. Her coffee had the perfect amount of cream and sugar (barely any), and her sandwich hit the spot. It wasn't her ideal day, and it certainly wasn't her ideal week. However, she was okay, well physically, but emotionally, she was drained, frustrated, and far too irritable for her own good.

It wasn't her fault that she snapped at the sound of a camera shutter and glared in the direction of the photographer. "Could you not."

She didn't mean it to come off so harsh, so jagged, but the boy lowered his camera and took a step closer. "Sorry, bad day?"

She rolled her eyes at the raven hair and the blue branded t-shirt with a matching snapback to boot before focusing her eyes back on her half-finished project. "Week," she corrected, "bad week."

Annabeth saw him nod out of the corner of her eye as he took a couple steps closer. "Hell week?"

"You don't even go here," she remarked. "How could you possibly even know what a hell week's like?"

"That's fair," and she could hear the laughter in his voice. She so badly wanted to cut it out. "I do have friends here though, and I feel like I get a pretty good idea of what it's like."

Her hands quickly flitted across the page, and she milled over the many possible ways she could end this conversation. She knew that he didn't deserve it, but once again, he was in her studio, in her space. This simply was not the week for his distractions. "You can't possibly know unless you go here."

He pulled out the stool next to her and didn't say a word in response. She could feel his gaze on her for a minute or two before he looked away. She didn't dare glance up but could feel her heart quicken at the close interaction. If she was honest, she craved human interaction. She had barely seen anyone this week besides the minimal, faded faces in her textbooks, and it was nice to just hear someone breathe again.

"It's a nice picture," he said after several minutes, right once the silence was starting to feel comfortable for her. She sighed, and he simply continued. "I know you're having a bad week, but I figured it might make it a little better that the picture came out well?"

She set her pencil down before finally settling her eyes on him. He was toying with the camera strap yet again, and she hated how relaxing it was to watch the long strokes he made against the fabric. "Thanks," she stated finally because she knew he was only trying to help. She knew he had a right to be on her campus, and she knew that he didn't deserve any of this.

"I don't know if it'll be as popular as the golden hour though," he chuckled, setting his camera on the surface and running his hands along his jeans. His hands were distracting, but it seemed like his entire being was distracting. "I'm Percy top thirty. You're Annabeth Chase, number one."

She nodded, her lips a stiff line. "Correct, I remember."

His grin was something that settled her mind, and she decided that his presence was certainly far too unsettling. "Sorry about bothering you. You probably have a lot of work to do since it's a hell week. I have a lot of editing to do, and uh," he paused, glancing at her eyes again before looking over her shoulder, "a paper to write for tomorrow that I haven't started."

He didn't say anything after that, and Annabeth noted the questioning expression that settled on his face. "I'll be here for a while," she finally managed, picking up her pencil once again.

He nodded, "Cool, well, I'll be quiet then, and I'll let you finish." He slipped his backpack off his shoulder to retrieve the same laptop, cluttered with stickers, and she felt a smile tug at her lips as she returned to her sketch.

He kept his word. He didn't say another word.

 **…**

It was after that day that she didn't mind seeing him on her campus as much. He still smiled with that same lopsided grin and would keep a conversation when he saw her. She, however, now asked him questions too, and her words were soaked with greater warmth.

Annabeth wouldn't call him a friend yet, but she decided he was at least an acquaintance. She didn't avoid him like she used to, sometimes being the first one to start conversation if he didn't see her or sometimes choosing to stay around long enough so that he did. She was becoming accustomed to his snapback, camera-ready appearance, and she decided it added something new to her campus that was certainly something good.

 **…**

Annabeth began to show up in an increasing number of his photos. It wasn't that she didn't like it or anything—she certainly took it in better spirits than she did the first photo. However, her friends couldn't stop prodding her about the fact that she seemed to be the one thing that caught his eye. She almost argued that he had more pictures of water, but she bit her lip instead. They didn't need to know that she had taken to flipping through his photos whenever she was sad or anxious or bored or quite simply on Facebook.

She didn't realize what she was offhandedly doodling until it was far too late. Annabeth lived on a schedule, and each Saturday, she scheduled in an hour of doodling. She did it to give herself a break, some time to relax, and those were the few drawings that tended to litter her walls. Litter wasn't necessarily the proper word. They were all straight and aligned against the white and all held up with four pieces of tape. Only four drawings had made wall-status.

When the hour was up, she groaned at the finished work. It wasn't that it was bad, but it was a testament to the fact that no matter what he was always on her mind. Before she could second guess herself, she quickly saved it and sent it with a simple message, "I never got to say thanks for you keeping me company."

She shut her laptop and wiped the smile off her face with a shaky hand.

 **…**

She knew he had read the message. She saw the little circle after the attachment, but he hadn't said anything in reply. It had been coming up on four days now—not that she was counting— and she felt ridiculous for ever drawing it. She felt even more ridiculous when he meandered through the studio during her design class that day. He took zero pictures of her, and she just wanted to crawl under the table and take a couple of breaths or maybe sleep for ten days.

 **…**

"How did you know I liked the water?" His voice rang out.

A sigh wracked through her body, and she slowed her actions. It wasn't that she was trying to pack extremely quickly to avoid him. It wasn't that she had silently cursed under her breath when her professor continued to speak to her even though class had ended. It wasn't that she felt her cheeks and neck heat up as a dark haired boy set his gaze on her and waited until the professor finished speaking to come over to her.

"I'm sorry I didn't reply," he added, taking a step closer.

She shrugged, zipping her bag and tossing it over her shoulder. "It's fine, and you take a lot of photos of the water. So, I figured a wave would be a nice touch." Her nose scrunched slightly, and she was certain he caught the movement. It wasn't that she was admitting to looking at his photos, all of his photos, but it sure felt like it.

"You look at my photos?" He questioned slowly, and Annabeth's legs itched to bolt.

"Some of them," she allowed.

He scrunched his eyebrows, running his tongue over his bottom lip as if tasting her words. "Is this week better?"

She nodded once, shifting her weight from foot to foot. "Yeah but it's also hard to be worse than last week."

He frowned, his eyes darting to her feet before back up at her eyes. "Sorry," he raised his hands in surrender, "I didn't mean to keep you from your next class. Damn, you're probably late."

"No, I—" she paused, wondering why she didn't take the out when she so easily could have done.

"No really, I'm sorry." He ran a shaky hand under his cap and through his hair; Annabeth wondered if that was how he perfected the messy hair look so well. "I'm also sorry about not replying to your Facebook message. I… I'm just not good at Messenger. I always get rid of the chat head, and then I forget to reply. Then it becomes too late to reply, and I—"

"It's fine," she cut in, mustering a smile and playing with the fringe of her scarf.

He sent a lopsided grin, shifting the camera against his hip. "I was hoping to make it up to you. I figured we could get coffee or something?"

"I'm pretty sure," she paused, eyeing him wearily, "that I was the one saying thanks for you keeping me company when I sent you that watermark."

Percy shook his head, setting his gaze on Annabeth's. "I just sat there and did work. That's nothing."

For the first time, she truly matched his gaze, swimming in the waves of green and blue that crashed against his evident sincerity. "Okay."

"Okay?" he questioned, eyes widening slightly.

She smiled despite herself, breaking their gaze to watch his hand nervously ghost over the camera lens. "Okay."

 **…**

Annabeth was wrong. He had taken a picture of her that day, and it was stamped with a new watermark to boot.

 **…**

"Seven packs of sugar too," Percy recited, and Annabeth almost scoffed despite herself. A shy smile crept across his face, gesturing for her to order too. She was about to protest, not wanting to have anyone pay for her, but the second he lifted his snapback, revealing a clear view of his eyes, she stepped up to recite her preferred coffee.

It was easy, if Annabeth was honest. He made it easy. The way he'd hold her gaze intently whenever she spoke or ask for clarification when he wasn't sure what she meant made the words fall more freely out of her mouth. There had barely been a second of silence on the walk to the coffee shop, and whenever there was, it was quieted by their smiles. If she was honest with herself, she couldn't recall a time where she felt more carefree.

"Have you been to Trident before?" Percy finally questioned, picking up both of their coffees and letting Annabeth lead them to a table.

She flipped the tail of her scarf across her shoulder, choosing a table in the corner, basked in light. "No, I haven't."

"Okay, awesome," he paused, setting her coffee in front of her with a warm smile, "you're gonna love it here. I swear."

And when he led her to the bookstore on the second floor, he was right. She loved it.

 **…**

The coffee meeting (Annabeth would not use the word date) was supposed to be a onetime thing, just as she had told Piper and Rachel. It wasn't supposed to become a weekly occurrence where he asked her about design, and she returned that with questions about photography. It simply happened—somewhat spontaneous at first.

She had stumbled into him, a coffee cup in both of their hands. He claimed he had time to kill. She had ten minutes until the shuttle came.

Then it was over dinner. She had joined Rachel in the photography office, and he happened to be there. Rachel had to get up every five minutes to let someone checkout a camera, and Percy filled those moments with sheepish smiles and waves of words.

It didn't surprise her when she walked to a nearby bakery to treat herself one Saturday. She spotted the snapback first, a deep blue with emerald accents, strands of hair peeking out. For a brief second, she considered turning away but scolded herself when he set down the camera and waved to her warmly. Her pastry was not the only thing in the bakery that warmed her belly that day.

It wasn't spontaneous the time after that. Annabeth had suggested it, and Percy had ensured it happened, even when their schedules didn't first seem to align. He was adamant, and eventually Annabeth because just as adamant as he was about having coffee that week and the week after that and the week after that. It because routine, although neither one of them was really ready to admit it yet. They looked forward to those meetings, something that made a hard week feel as though it was worth it. In time, it became like clockwork, and they would also be at the café each week without having to explicitly plan it.

 **…**

Annabeth glanced down at her ringing phone, silencing it when she read the text. _Hey_ _:)_ It was from Percy, and she groaned, knowing that there was no way she was going to finish her paper if she kept sitting at her desk. She had already pondered going to the café—their café—but she decided she didn't want to risk tainting the place with writer's block.

 _I need to get off campus_ , Annabeth sent back as a reply, skipping the formalities.

To be honest, she wasn't sure why she told him that. She didn't expect anything from him, but her frustration seemed to be the only thing that she could focus on at the moment. Normally, Annabeth could whip out a paper so easily and quickly that she didn't need to give it a second thought. However, something about this paper and the ridiculous points she needed to make in order to get a good grade on it made her run head first into writer's block. She didn't stand a chance.

Her phone buzzed against her desk, and she glanced at another reply from Percy.

 _Do you want to come over?_

 **…**

"So, this is your room," Annabeth stated simply, running her eyes along the messy sheets and scattered papers that lined his desk.

He chuckled, "Yeah, sorry, I've been meaning to clean it, but I just always wind up putting more pictures up instead."

She nodded, moving into the room carefully to look at a couple pictures that lined his wall. The set she looked at now were polaroids, Percy filling up the majority of them with his lopsided smiles. She recognized Jason in some of them, his glasses thin and a smirk on his face that showed confidence that she had never seen before. Annabeth frowned, knowing how being at an elite school could take that way from someone. Her eyes roamed the wall, noting how the pictures that weren't selfies were of the crashing waves or glittering sand. She smiled at a picture of Percy holding a trophy in his hand and goggles in the other, strands of hair sticking to his forehead.

"You swim," Annabeth said finally, tearing her eyes away from the wall to look at him. He leaned against the doorframe, his snapback now in his hands and no longer on his head, and finally that strand of recognition that Annabeth had been holding onto made sense. "You set records at Yancy, and you're the reason we were undefeated for four years. You were on the cover of almost every school newspaper during swim season, and you were still there my senior year after you graduated."

He raised his eyes from his hat to squint at her, turning it in his hands before throwing it haphazardly to his bed. "Yeah, that's me, but I'm not the reason we're undefeated. I just helped out, a bit."

She rolled her eyes, turning her back from him to look at a sparse wall that only contained a few pictures. "You could've told me."

She could hear the shrug in his voice, "I mean, sure, I could've, but what was I supposed to say? 'Hey, I'm Percy Jackson, holder of a shit ton of records at Yancy for swimming and somehow a legend there still, even though I'm a junior in college now'. That's not exactly a cool way to introduce yourself. It's not like _you_ said, 'Hey, I'm Annabeth Chase, the valedictorian.' If we both introduced ourselves that way—"

"That's me," Annabeth cut-off, setting her eyes on a picture that was most certainly her. If she hadn't been running her eyes along the photos in a more rapid pace, she would've chastised herself for cutting him off and not letting him finish.

There was more than one photo of herself. There was the golden hour, the one that prompted her to say it was her, but as she studied the few photos surrounding it, she found herself in a couple more. The late night of her hell week when Percy sat next to her-he documented that day with a picture of her smiling at her blueprints in a tshirt and sweatpants that she normally never wore outside of her room. A few more were of her in the studio, a scarf settled on her neck and jacket tugging at her wrists. Then, there were some of the studio, of other people working, but there was less focus on the people as though they were simply a part of the background.

Another, she remembered clearly—she and Rachel had been in the photography office. Rachel had stated that she might as well befriend the people in her photos because she spent more time with them than her real friends while Annabeth might as well just befriend the buildings she drew. She had laughed—not expecting it—which meant that she laughed louder and longer than she normally would, throwing her head back ever so slightly to expose the skin of her neck that teased the openings of her flannel. Rachel was smirking, and a second later, Rachel would say hi to Percy, cutting off Annabeth's laughter.

She frowned, running her eyes along the patch of blank space before turning around to face him. His eyes were focused behind her, and she assumed he was looking at the pictures as well. "There are several of me," she spoke quietly, rubbing the front of her boots together. She felt as though she had seen something that she wasn't supposed to, and she regretted ever saying that she needed to get off campus.

He nodded, settling his eyes on hers before stuffing his hands in his back pockets. "Yeah, the printer had started acting up, so I printed off a couple of my photos after I thought I fixed it. They—" he frowned, setting his eyes back on the photos. "I couldn't throw them out."

"So, you put them on the wall," Annabeth finished, tilting her had to the side.

He chuckled, letting a small lopsided smile fall onto his face. "It sounds more ridiculous out loud. I liked the photos, and… I mean, we're friends, and I put pictures of my friends on my wall." He cleared his throat, running a hand through his hat hair. "You wear scarfs a lot."

She rolled her eyes, ignoring the tension between them. "It's cold, and they're practical."

He nodded, meeting her gaze again and moving to sit on his bed. "So, you wear things because they're practical, not because you like them."

"I didn't say that," Annabeth corrected, pulling on the edge of her scarf that fell at her waist line. "I also like them."

Percy nodded, running his eyes along the scarf before meeting her eyes again. "Is that also why you dress so nicely?"

She chuckled, taking the steps to drop her bag at his desk before taking a seat. "Thanks and no not exactly, but that's a story for another time because this paper isn't going to write itself."

"True," Percy conceded, grabbing his laptop off his desk, and shuffling a couple papers to make them tidy. "I'm gonna order Chinese food. Want anything?"

She smiled, rattling off her normal order and running her eyes over the golden hour. She might not have been ready to admit it to anyone else and much less to herself, but there was something settling about finding herself on Percy's wall.

 **…**

It started simply when Percy was in Annabeth and Jason's dorm several days later, but Jason was still out studying. He hadn't meant to happen upon Annabeth in the elevator; it just sort of happened, so she invited him to wait for Jason in her room. It wasn't even a minute later that their banter started.

Percy had argued that he was better suited for the big spoon, and Annabeth stated otherwise, even though they both knew that she was arguing just for the sake of disagreeing with him. Annabeth would state otherwise.

When she suggested doing experiments, the expressions that flitted across Percy's face left her chuckling and her stomach tumbling for minutes. His expression finally settled on bewilderment, and she simply rolled her eyes, pulling him up onto her pristinely-made bed.

They simply sat side by side, not even touching or thighs grazing, while she explained the different variables of the experiment. She decided that there sadly couldn't be a control, and Percy frowned at the sadness that seeped into her tone at those words. Annabeth declared that she'd be the big spoon first, deciding that they'd stay there for half the length of a Shark Tank episode before pausing to switch midway through.

The experiment had gone without a hitch, and deep down, as the credits began to roll, Annabeth knew that Percy had been right. "You're the better big spoon," she concluded, several seconds after the credits had ended.

"Thanks," he muttered, a pause, and then silence as they watched suggested videos fill the screen. She felt puffs of nervous breaths dance across her neck and frowned at their shaky quality. His voice was softer this time, and if she was being honest, she would have said it was warmer too. "I like you."

"I know," is what she said because she did know. She'd known for a while by the way his face softened when he saw her or how his breath quickened when he was near her. She'd simply chosen to ignore it, to push it back into some far crevice of her brain to recall at a later time.

She could feel his gaze settle on the back of her head, and he waited. He waited for what felt like an infinitely long time, but Annabeth could not muster speech. It felt like an eternity—truly forty-five seconds—before he settled instead for speaking.

His right hand found hers, and he intertwined their fingers, letting his forehead fall to her shoulder. "What are we?" His voice rang out in puffs of breath that tickled the crook of her neck.

She sighed, closing her eyes as his thumb rubbed the inside of her palm. "We can't be— We're friends," she answered quietly, feeling the way the strong planes of his body, folded into hers. He was quiet for a moment, his breath pressing against her neck in even bursts. "Give it time," Annabeth stated finally, pulling her bottom lip in between her teeth.

"Time," he slowly let out, as if tasting the consonants and vowels in his mouth before spilling them out. "I can do that," he said finally, rubbing his thumb along her palm one last time before pulling his body away from hers. "Jason is probably back and freaking out about his test right now, so I should go." He paused to slip off the bed and press his feet haphazardly into his shoes. "I'll see you around."

She rolled away from the wall to face him and sent a light smile. "Tell Jason that he'll kill it and not to worry."

Percy nodded, letting a small grin settle on his features before grabbing his camera, coat, and backpack, "Of course."

 **…**

"I told him to give it time," Annabeth frowned, sticking a couple pieces of random food before sighing and dropping her fork. "He said Jason was probably back and freaking out after that and left." She sighed, raising her eyes to scan Piper's face.

Piper nodded, mindlessly chewing on her food and thoughts. "I see," she stated finally, crossing her arms to gaze at Annabeth. "You seem a lot more troubled than you're letting on."

Annabeth narrowed her eyes, glancing towards her plate before figuring it was no use to even try to eat with the way her stomach was turning in knots. "I'm not."

"And yet here we are at dinner, the minute we sat down, you started talking about him. Annabeth, we both know you're lying right now," Piper remarked, crossing her arms to lean back in her chair.

She sighed, picking up her fork again and managing to pick out the appealing pieces of food. "He's a year older than me."

Piper's arms softened as did her gaze, and she let her eyes roam Annabeth's face. "You haven't told him about Luke, have you?"

She glared, sticking more pieces of food before beginning to speak, "There's absolutely no reason for me to tell him about Luke."

"Just like there's absolutely no reason that you started dressing differently after the breakup?" Piper supplied, her eyes much softer than the bite to her tone.

"It's…" Annabeth began, only to let the thought fade away. "Those are two unrelated things, and I just feel a lot better when my outfits are well put together." The brunette nodded, her eyebrows raising in disbelief. "Piper, he has _pictures_ of me on his wall."

"You seemed fairly happy about that before," she noted, letting the bite drain from her words.

Annabeth shook her head, absentmindedly running her fingers through the curls of her ponytail. "I just… I know I don't like him as much as he likes me, and I don't want to hurt him—"

"The way that Luke hurt you," Piper finished, tilting her head slightly to the side. "You and I both know that you wouldn't."

"That doesn't mean that in a year in a half, if we even lasted that long, that he wouldn't decide it'd be too hard to make it work once he graduates." Annabeth muttered, pressing her cup to her lips to wet her throat.

Piper nodded, knowing that this was true. "So, you're going to let something that might not even happen in a year and a half ruin something that could happen right now."

"It's not that simple," Annabeth insisted, pushing the food on her plate around to mix together.

"I know that the breakup with Luke…" Piper paused, gauging the expression that settling on Annabeth's face before continuing. "Look, anything that you do could end badly, and I'm not saying that you should date Percy just because he wants you guys to date. What I'm saying is that you shouldn't let anything that might happen in the far future stop you from letting you like him. Luke was an ass, and we both know that. Just don't let Luke control any more of your life."

 **…**

"Tell me something quirky that I do," Percy said finally, after a prolonged silence had developed between them.

She had mistakenly run into him in the student center after grabbing dinner from the convenience store. He was waiting on the couches and waved the second she caught his gaze. He'd explained that he was waiting for the shuttle since he broke his board, and she offered to wait the twelve minutes with him because she hadn't seen him in two days.

She raised an eyebrow, glancing up from her phone to meet his gaze. "Alright, give me a second to think."

She didn't really need the second though. For weeks, Annabeth couldn't help but notice little quirks about Percy. She noticed the way he tugged on his sleeves before folding them at his elbows whenever he wore a collared shirt. She saw how his tongue peeked out between his lips when he concentrated on anything for more than a second or how he quickly bit his bottom lip to force back a smile that would always peek through. To say the least, she noticed a lot.

He took two spoonfuls of sugar in his coffee or seven packets of sugars when a spoon wasn't an option. It was half cream and half coffee, and he'd always offer her a sip even though she always scrunched her nose and said no. He'd shrug, per usual, and then sip his coffee with a smile before snapping a picture with his camera or phone. He'd sip on the same coffee for at least two hours, even if it'd gotten cold, and if they were at a café for only thirty minutes, he'd quickly finish the rest before either one of them pushed their chair back to leave.

Annabeth pulled on a curl, before tucking it behind her ear. There were too many to choose, but too many of them made it seem like she noticed _too much_. "Most of your Instagram captions are random and not even about the picture unless it's a selfie or a picture of a friend."

He nodded, as if weighing whether or not that was quirky enough and ultimately seemed to decide that it was. "True, very true, so I guess I'll give one about you?" She didn't discourage it, so he let his eyes trace her face before giving an answer. "You don't like to erase with your mechanical pencils even though you have the pencils with the really long erasers that you can replace."

She shrugged, nodding once. "I just don't like getting to the end because if I ever forget or lose my eraser, I'll know that I still have one on the end of my pencil."

"That's practical," he stated, twisting his snapback to face the back. This one was black, with a raised logo that Annabeth couldn't make out before he flipped it from view. "Jason got three points above average on the exam."

"That's great," Annabeth encouraged, smiling lightly.

Percy nodded, running his hands along the camera in his lap. "Yeah, I thought so too. I don't know. He's not too happy with it, but I think that's cause he just works really hard on everything. He sets pretty high expectations for himself, but yeah, he was kind of okay with it, I guess. So, how many finals do you have?"

"No finals, only final projects," she answered.

Percy nodded again, something Annabeth noticed that he did fairly often. "So then… Are you going back to California before finals week? I have finals a week before yours, but I'm going back to New York with Jason after his last one Friday morning."

"Flights back during finals week were cheaper, so I figured I'd stick around until then," she supplied, not adding the part about the fact that her father wouldn't even be around much either way.

"We should hangout then," Percy requested, sending her another one of his lopsided grins.

She shrugged a shoulder, feigning disinterest. "I mean, I'll probably be pretty busy," he frowned slightly, and Annabeth felt bad for making that happen, "going to all the parties that happen that weekend."

"Funny," he muttered, shooting her a fake smile, "really funny, Annabeth."

"What, do you think I don't go to parties?" Annabeth snapped, setting her jaw.

Percy shook his head, "I mean… I don't… I don't know? I've never given it much thought, but you also never really talked about it?"

Annabeth relaxed her jaw, knowing that she was initially joking and this was far from fair. "I used to go out a lot more my freshman year. I've just been pretty busy, and I haven't really felt like going out this year."

"Noted," Percy reported, pressing his lips together into a line. "I've never gone out too much."

"Do you drink?" she questioned, realizing the topic never really came up.

He squinted his eyes towards her slightly, and Annabeth wondered if perhaps she shouldn't have asked that. "I mean, yeah," he paused, lacing his fingers together, "I do, but I'm not 21 yet. So, it's not like I can buy alcohol or anything. Well, I mean, I don't own a fake, and everyone tells me I wouldn't get carded. But I mean, I'm kind of scared that I might, so I've never tried it."

"What a good, law-abiding citizen," Annabeth teased.

Percy smirked, one of the smirks that he only reserved for the few times he outsmarted her. "I wouldn't say underage drinking is exactly law abiding, Miss Chase."

"Shut up," she muttered under her breath, a light pink grazing her cheeks for missing that. She'd starting to make that a tendency around Percy, and she didn't like that.

"I was wondering…" Percy started, a serious expression covering his face once more.

"Percy, you should go. The shuttle's leaving in a minute," Annabeth stated abruptly, noticing the time highlighted in gold on her watch's face.

He nodded, a grim expression settling on his face. He made as if to stand up but stopped, "Annabeth, I just wanted to say… I'm sorry about that night. I just… I'm sorry."

 **…**

Annabeth answered on the third ring, and it only took her that long because she was determined to finish her final project at a semi reasonable hour.

"Are you in your room?" the voice answered on the line, the moment she answered the call.

"Nope" she remarked, tucking a curl behind her ear to gaze at the project in front of her.

"Oh," he paused, noise entering the connection, "I'm entering your dorm."

Annabeth shook her head, a laugh lodged in her throat, "Percy, I'm still not in my room."

"I'm just struggling at focusing," he explained, "and I was hoping you could make me pay attention or something." She rolled her eyes, knowing that he often did need to be chastised whenever he got distracted.

"Come to the studio," she conceded, "I'm spending the night here."

She could hear the grin in his voice, "I'll see you in five."

She internally sighed as she hung-up the phone. She knew he was a distraction. That was for certain. He'd mutter some pun or make a joke every five minutes sometimes, so she never actually chose to be around him whenever she really needed to study or felt that she might run out of time. If she was being honest with herself, she'd finish this before the sun even rose, but she still feared that perhaps she had completely miscalculated the time it was going to take and the effect he'd have on her. Instead, she didn't ponder that but rather twirled her pencil once before trying to make more headway with her project.

"Hey," Percy whispered, setting his bag next to Annabeth's stool and taking a seat on the one next to her.

There were other people in the studio as well, and it seemed that despite anyone and everyone's best efforts, they would all be up late finishing their final project. "Hi," Annabeth chuckled, speaking at a normal volume and pressing a curl behind her ear.

When Percy set a cup in front of her, she finally glanced up at him. "I got you a coffee. I figured you'd already finished yours. One packet of sugar and a drop of cream, just like you like it."

She smiled, squeezing his arm and grabbing the drink. "Thanks, Perce."

He sent her a smile, pulling out his laptop and opening Lightroom. "All-nighter? You're wearing sweats and a hoodie which isn't exactly normal."

She bit her lip, bringing her attention back to her project. "I planned for the worst, but I feel like I'll be done at three thirty… Maybe four? It's nine though," Annabeth frowned, glancing at him from the corner of her eye. "What time are you leaving?"

He shrugged, discarding one of the pictures he was flipping through. "My final's Tuesday, so I can stay up until whenever."

"Percy," she chastised, dropping her pencil carefully to the side of her project, "stop editing photos and start studying."

"It's no big deal. I'll pull an all-nighter Monday if I'm that screwed."

She sighed, absentmindedly pulling out the end of her braid, only to braid it back again. "Please do me a favor and study tonight. You're going to stress me out tomorrow when you start texting me to complain how tired you are, but you still haven't even read one page of your textbook."

He pouted, but Annabeth had already gone back to drawing. "Fine."

 **…**

It was three forty-two when Annabeth finished, and by finished, she meant erased every little mark that wasn't even there and inspected it from all angles. By Percy's judgement, she was finished twenty minutes before. He argued that it was perfect and snapped a couple pictures of her examining it on his phone as well as the final product. He grinned, typing away on his phone while she continued to gaze at her project, re-braiding her hair again as she did so. With a sigh and a wipe of her graphite free hands along her sweats, she announced that she was done and that they could finally leave. She was the first one out of her year to leave, and Percy sent her a lopsided albeit tired smile to boot. Annabeth couldn't help but smile back.

When they left, she couldn't help but recount what had happened before he had arrived. She spoke of how she almost scrapped her project to entirely restart and how a guy almost knocked the last dregs of her coffee over when he was ogling her project (the guy claimed it wasn't on purpose). She'd almost torn her eraser in half by mistake when examining the project while half done, and she chuckled under her breath while she told all of this, speaking faster and faster as she went. She missed the lopsided grin that settled on Percy's mouth as he regarded her with sleepy eyes.

It was two minutes later that they reached the cold of the outside, and Annabeth pulled her scarf around her neck just a tad bit tighter. She'd already told Percy the merits of owning a scarf, and he'd already listened to her many times over with a smile on his face. That day was no different.

"I should go," Percy started as they came to the end of the sidewalk.

Annabeth frowned, blinking twice to push the sleep away. "It's cold, and the shuttles stopped running."

He shrugged, pressing his hands into his pockets. "It's really not that far. It's like a twenty-five-minute walk in this weather, and the bridge really isn't too bad."

Annabeth bit the corner of her lip, watching him press down a shiver. "You can stay with me tonight?"

He shook his head, pursing his lips together to stop his chattering teeth. "Seriously, it's no big deal Annabeth. Plus, you have school tomorrow even though I don't. Or well, I guess it's today now."

She sighed, brushing her arm against his. "It's too cold to argue. My dorm's three minutes away from here, and the crosswalk is about to change. Either you come back with me to my room or you find out if Jason is awake and stay in his room."

"He has a quad," Percy complained, crossing the street in tow with Annabeth.

"I have a single," she smugly replied, knowing already that she had won and that Percy would not be taking the cold walk over the bridge back to his apartment.

He barely nodded, running his lips together. "Fine."

It took them three minutes, just like Annabeth had stated, to get back to her dorm. She blushed slightly when checking him in with the night desk worker but smiled gratefully once he was given entrance. Once in the elevator, she leaned against him slightly, and he ran a hand softly down her arm. They were thawing and still far too cold to really have a discussion despite the heat in the dorm.

"So," Percy started as they stepped out of the elevator to her floor, "do you have an air mattress?"

"No," she sighed, fumbling to get to her keys with numb fingers, "it's in Piper's room."

He nodded, having heard of Piper through many of Annabeth's stories and having met her a couple times. "So, am I staying in Piper's room tonight?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes, pressing the keys into the knob and letting them both into the room. "No, you're staying with me." She glanced at him sideways before shrugging her coat and grabbing a shirt and shorts off her bed. "We've… I figured it wouldn't be a big deal to share the bed," she decided.

Percy bit the corner of his lip, neatly setting his backpack and jacket in the corner of her room. "Yeah, of course, I'm gonna… bathroom." He nodded his head as though determining that what he said was sufficient before leaving the room.

The second the door closed softly behind him, Annabeth sighed, switching into her shorts and shirt. She hadn't really given it much thought—having him stay with her and what that actually meant. Sure, they had fallen asleep while watching a movie on Percy's couch, only to be awakened by the return of one of his roommate's. However, Annabeth normally still left those nights, and if it just so happened that Percy convinced her to stay over, he always took the couch while she took the bed.

She combed her fingers through her hair, grabbing her toothbrush and pulling out an unused travel one for Percy. She frowned, noting that her toothpaste was green and not blue before chuckling at the thought that he might be disappointed too. He entered just as quietly as he left, shooting her a grin when she pointed to the travel toothbrush. In silence they brushed, and Annabeth wondered if she would regret this in the morning by the way her stomach turned and tumbled no matter what he did.

She finished first as expected and briefly busied herself by moving his backpack and jacket to her desk, ignoring the way his eyes followed his movements. It wasn't that she had never had a boy stay over before. Luke had multiple times, but it had been a long time since her stomach flipped and knotted in the way that it was doing right now. If she was honest, it had never done it to this degree before, and she blamed that on the fact that she and Luke had established their relationship well in advance of him staying over in her room.

"Thanks," Percy broke in, causing Annabeth to jump slightly. He furrowed his eyebrows, but when she said nothing, he simply set his snapback on her desk before pulling out his phone charger. "Does it matter where I plug this in?"

Annabeth shook her head, turning on her desk light and turning off her room light before sitting on her bed to aimlessly scroll through her social media. It was a routine she did every night, but she only allotted herself ten minutes tonight due to the time.

"What time's your first class?" He questioned, sitting back at her desk to also charge his laptop and camera battery in addition to his phone.

She frowned, entering the password to her Instagram before answering. "Eleven. I start at one some days, but tomorrow is not that day. Breakfast also ends at ten, so I'll need to be up even earlier unless I want to have a shitty lunch at the only dining hall that's open."

He nodded, pushing his hair off his forehead before tugging on the ends. "I need a haircut," he mumbled absentmindedly. "That's not a lot of sleep," he directed towards her.

Annabeth raised an eyebrow, "Don't even suggest skipping."

Percy chuckled, "I wasn't even going to try."

She smirked, glancing down at her Instagram feed before scrolling some more and liking a picture. "You can stay as long as you want. Just make sure when you leave that you bring everything unless Jason can let you in or something."

"I'm on his guest list," Percy supplied, tossing her a smile, "but noted." He added before yawning, tapping a couple keys on his laptop.

Annabeth bit her lip, finally, actually looking at her Instagram feed. She hadn't been paying attention when she first opened it, so she refreshed so that she was at the top. It was OCD, but she didn't really _have_ to do it. It was then that she noticed Percy's Instagram post. It was her. She was smiling lightly at her project and tugging on the end of her braid. She frowned slightly at the sweats that peaked out from the bottom of the picture but ultimately decided that she liked it.

"An artist at work. Looking at perfection," she mumbled under her breath.

"You saw it," Percy noted, and she could hear the grin in his voice. She logged out and locked her phone, laying on her bed.

"I did."

"You did," he repeated. "Anyways, I'm tired."

"Sleep," Annabeth deadpanned, rolling her eyes as he shrugged before putting himself on the edge of her bed.

She sighed ever so slightly, tapping her desk light twice to make it dimmer. He sent her a weak smile before shifting a little closer so that he could lay on his back. "You're really talented," he said simply.

She quirked an eyebrow. "Thanks."

"Wow, no sarcastic remark," Percy exclaimed turning his head to face her before lying on his side.

Annabeth smiled lightly, and Percy bit his lip to hold back a grin. No matter how hard he tried, it pushed through like normal. "Too late and too tired," Annabeth breathed.

He nodded, his blinks become slower and his expression softening. "We should sleep, then."

Annabeth nodded once more, biting her lip and letting her eyes run along the features of his face. He no longer bit his lips but instead let them part ever so slightly. She glanced up at his eyes and saw that he was watching her every move. She hit her desk light, basking them in darkness.

It was in this darkness that Annabeth pressed her lips against Percy's.

She wasn't thinking when she did it, but she heard him inhale sharply. His lips moved slightly against hers, warm and soft despite the chill outside, and she moved a hand to his cheek before pulling away. Stubble prickled against thumb as she smoothed the planes of his face. She was too tired to overthink it, but truly, she was too far gone to think about it at all.

"Night, Percy," she mumbled, turning to press her back against his stomach like they had done the other night they briefly shared her bed.

Annabeth was already a second away from sleep when she felt his right hand intertwine with hers and his head fall against her shoulder. "Good night, Annabeth."

 **…**

Annabeth woke up before Percy to the soft vibrations of her phone. She cut it off haphazardly with her left hand, her right still intertwined with Percy's before releasing a sigh. Sleep stung behind her eyes, but she only had forty-five minutes before breakfast ended and was determined to enter the dining hall in her outfit for the day.

She held her eyes closed, remembering the night before and the softness of his lips. It was dumb of her to do, she decided, slowly untwining their right hands. Annabeth sat for a moment, watching the way his stomach rose and fell as he continued to sleep, shifting against the pillow as he readjusted his right arm. She could get used to this, she determined, considering nights of stolen kisses and soft stokes of his thumbs against her skin. Annabeth pushed those thoughts away, instead mentally inventorying her closet to pick an outfit for the day. Carefully moving over him to exit the bed, she pulled out the clothing for the day before retreating to the bathroom for a quick shower and to brush her teeth without waking Percy.

Her outfit was blue, different shades crashing over each other between her scarf and jacket and three-quarter sleeved shirt that peaked out from underneath. There was still something missing, something to put the waves at bay. She pressed her lips together, slipping on boots before grabbing her phone from her desk. Percy still slept peacefully, and she briefly considered waking him before deciding he should sleep before having to study for his final. She grabbed a pen, writing a quick note about how she didn't want to wake him but that he was free to stay as long as he wanted. Pulling the sticky note from the pad, she brought the note down to press to his snapback before pausing and lifting the hat off her desk. Pressing the note down in its spot, the corner of her lips peaked upwards. She slid the hat on her head, breathing in the smell of the ocean and hint of detergent that was just so Percy.

Yes, something had certainly been missing.

 **…**

Annabeth returned to a cup of coffee and a note on her desk that afternoon. She frowned slightly, at the empty bed and empty chair. She hadn't _really_ expected him to stay. He didn't have a change of clothes, and he certainly could not fit hers. Nevertheless, a part of her was thankful because it meant avoiding that night—well, not exactly that night but a part of that night, and Annabeth simply was not ready to discuss it.

She made her way to her desk, feeling the coffee first and being happy with the warmth that settled against her palm. She took a careful sip and smiled at that taste that filled her mouth. Yes, it was perfect, just like she knew it would be.

Annabeth frowned at the blank paper in front of her. The glossy back faced her, and she knew immediately that she had registered it all wrong. Flipping it to the front, a piece of paper slid to the side with large messy writing scrawled on top of it.

 _Thanks for not letting me walk back and for making me study. I should've known you were right just like normal. Gonna try to study though, but we'll see how that goes. P.S. I've been meaning to give this to you. –P_

She smiled at the way the P was squeezed into the edge of the paper and decided that she'd be keeping that note for sure. Flipping the glossy sheet in her hand, the smile remained. It was a picture, albeit a several weeks old. It was the first picture that Annabeth had taken of Percy when she grabbed his camera after he teased her that she wouldn't be able to just excel from the beginning. Sure, the focus was a little off, but Percy was grinning while reaching his hand toward the camera, her favorite blue snapback sitting on his head.

Running her eyes along her barren walls, she ultimately pinned the picture and note to the bulletin board in front of her desk, sliding her fingers along the brim of his hat. She hadn't noticed it until that moment, but she decided her plain walls were far too barren.

 **…**

"I kissed him," Annabeth stated two days later. She and Percy hadn't really talked since then, but she truly wasn't surprised. He had three finals in four days, but he still sparsely texted her throughout it all.

She glanced towards Piper and Rachel who sat across from her at the table. "Well, I'm glad I left the office," Rachel stated matter-of-factly. It had taken Annabeth's insistent texting to get Rachel to join them both at dinner. While she and Rachel were good friends, it was always how hard she had to press to get Rachel to do things that stopped them from being as close as Annabeth was to Piper.

Piper rolled her eyes, jabbing an elbow into Rachel's arm. "What she _means_ is what happened?"

Rachel opened her mouth, but Annabeth spoke anyways, "He stayed the night, and I kissed him before I fell asleep."

Piper and Rachel furrowed their brows glancing at one another. "I still have your air mattress though," Piper continued slowly, deducing what that would have meant.

"You didn't let Luke stay over until four and a half months into the relationship," Rachel added, pressing her chin into the palm of her hand.

Annabeth nodded, taking a bit of her food. It wasn't that she didn't want to talk about it—because she did—but rather it had been a long time since she had any sort of _positive_ development to tell them both before.

"So, you guys have given it time, and you've figured it out?" Piper reasoned, knowing that Annabeth always did things logically and almost never spur of the moment.

Annabeth pursed her lips together, giving a shake of her head. "No, not exactly at least. I mean, I'm still pretty certain he likes me more than I like him," she sighed, pushing her bangs off of her forehead and into a pin. "I was more than half a sleep, and I wasn't thinking. It just sort of happened, you know?"

"No, Annabeth, I can't say I know," Rachel countered. "Look, you can't just go around kissing Percy to try and figure out your feeli—"

"Rachel, she was basically asleep," Piper chastised, gripping her fork more tightly. "She obviously wasn't thinking."

Rachel rolled her eyes, "Well, she should have been."

"You're being ridiculous," Piper muttered, glaring towards Rachel before shifting her eyes towards Annabeth.

"Look, I'm his friend, and I know how he feels just like Annabeth does. I just don't want to see him get hurt."

"You didn't seem to care at the beginning of the semester when your practically set us up," Annabeth argued, finally speaking again.

Rachel set her eyes on Annabeth, letting out a sigh. "I didn't think it would end up like this."

"Like what?" Annabeth questioned, not certain how this _positive_ development had turned into something so negative.

Rachel shook her head, piling her plates like she only ever did when she was ready to leave. "You need to figure out how you feel before you break his heart. You know I love you, but you also know this isn't going to end well if you just keep kissing him until you figure out how you feel. I'm not saying you were going to do that, but I am saying that you shouldn't." She stood, pushing her jacket over her shoulders and picking up her stack of plates. "Someone wants to go checkout a camera, so I need to go back to the office. Just like, figure things out, okay?" She added with a questioning smile, sending her eyes between Piper and Annabeth.

Annabeth sent her a smile in return before Rachel waved goodbye, setting the plates on the conveyor belt and leaving without a second glance.

Piper shook her head. "She acts like you planned on having a friends with benefits situation with Percy," she concluded, rolling her eyes.

 **…**

Annabeth didn't see him until Sunday, a week later. He'd spent Friday taking a final and then playing video games with Jason the rest of the night. (He'd invited her over, but Annabeth didn't want to intrude. Plus, she and Piper had decided they'd always go to the final a capella concert that happened that Friday.) Saturday, he'd slept in or well slept on and off most of the day to catch up on all of the sleep that he'd lost. Annabeth couldn't say she truly minded. He'd promised her that Sunday they would get together and exchange Christmas gifts. She'd agreed, choosing to spend the day reorganizing her closet while beginning to pack and hanging out with Piper while her friend studied.

Then it was Sunday, and he texted her at twelve, letting her know that he was awake and suggesting that they meet up at a café that Annabeth had really wanted to try out; she was jealous when he told her with a shy smile that he had been there a couple of times. He suggested meeting there at three, figuring that it'd probably be less busy then, and Annabeth wholeheartedly agreed.

Two and a half hours later, she quickly grabbed the bag that held his gifts and made her way out to the underground train. The train was a fifteen-minute walk away if she chose to walk at the quick est pace possible without starting into a run, but she accounted for the cold and hoped that Percy did too. (She'd learn thirty minutes later that he'd taken an Uber in an effort to be there on time.)

"It's not that great," Annabeth warned, watching the childish grin that covered his face.

He raised an eyebrow in disbelief, unwrapping the first with fervor. "You got me a tripod?" She nodded. "Do you have any idea how long I've wanted this? I totally missed out on a sale for it over the summer, and I've been mad at myself for that since." Annabeth merely smiled, gesturing towards the other gift. He gave her a glance, unwrapping it with more control than he had for the first gift. "Did you draw this?" Percy questioned, his eyes running along the frame and the image within it. "This is Montauk."

She nodded, biting back a smile. "Yeah, I drew it. I hopped that I could at least capture an ounce of what it meant to you."

"It's perfect," he earnestly assured. "Alright, okay, you totally should've opened your gifts first cause now they're gonna look stupid."

He set the bag in front of her while Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Wow, thanks for hyping this gift up, Percy. You made me really excited." He shrugged with a light smile, gesturing for her to open it.

She pulled out ten rolls of paper and a small envelope. She started with the rolls, and before she could even finish with one, Percy was already talking. "It's not as good as yours, I know."

However, he was wrong. She unrolled the gifts to find posters of the Parthenon, Temple of Athena Nike, and a plethora of her other favorite buildings, some of which she was certain she had only mentioned once. "Percy…"

"I noticed your walls looked barren," he explained, scratching the back of his neck.

She kept unrolling until they were all finished, grinning at him with a smile that covered his face. "They're perfect."

"I'm glad you think so," he mumbled, shooting her a small smile.

"What's in this one?" The envelope was smaller, and Annabeth was certain it did not hold a poster.

He shrugged, running his hand along his neck.

The crinkled, white envelope was embellished with slanted cursive that read _moments_. Annabeth frowned slightly at his noncommittal answer, carefully pulling the back tab away from the envelope.

"Don't look too excited," he teased with a shake to his words.

"Funny," she deadpanned, pulling out a stack of pictures with a simple card.

"I wanted to make sure you didn't forget the good moments," he read aloud as her eyes traced the words, scratching a hand behind his head. "They're just… They're pictures from this semester. I thought you might like them. Sorry that half of them are just you. I didn't really think about the fact that you might not wanna cover your walls with pictures of yourself. Well, I mean, if you wanted to do that then that's—"

"It's perfect," Annabeth conceded, squeezing his hand that waved to the beat of his words and shuffling through the first five pictures. "Honestly, your gifts were perfect."

He let out a breath, and Annabeth smiled at the sound of it. "I mean, I didn't draw anything, and it's not like I took all the pictures specifically for you."

"Percy, I would've liked anything you gave me just because it was from you."

He shrugged, breaking their gaze to change the subject. "You're leaving tomorrow morning."

"So, I guess we just have to make the most of today then. Lucky for you, _I'm_ not a procrastinator like someone here, and I already packed."

"Well, looks like I don't have to offer to help," he deadpanned, meeting her gaze with amusement.

"Yeah," she nodded, elongating the word, "you seem _so sad_ about that."

 **…**

When Annabeth returned to Boston two days after New Year's, somehow the city felt bigger, not only bigger than it had before but also bigger than California—from where she had just returned. Maybe it was the fact that whenever she longed to tell Percy a story, she had to settle for a text or a snapchat that she knew did not capture the moment like Percy could do so well. She clung to his snapback until the wind nipped at her ears with a hard bite, and she hated the way his scent seemed to cling to her hair even though she had stopped wearing the hat days before. There was something missing in the city she had learned to love, and that empty spot seemed to follow her anywhere she went. It was hard to lose the kind of emptiness that lay within one's core.

She missed him. It was as simple as that. She missed his presence, his smell, and his way of making her smile even on her most hellish of days. She missed the way his eyes would linger on her face, and she missed the way he'd snap pictures of her until she was laughing and begging him not to do so. She missed the sounds of his fingers tapping against the table, the sounds of camera capturing a moment, and the sounds of his breathy laughter late into the night. She missed him. She quite simply missed everything about him.

It was hard. It was hard for her to count down those measly fourteen days. It always sounded ridiculous to Annabeth when she reminded herself that the time was so short, but when she recalled the additional two weeks she spent half away across the country from him over the holidays, the remaining fourteen days sounded treacherous.

She tried her best to combat this by working even longer at the studio, doing research for a professor whom she loved. At first, she thought it was working, and she truly did love the work that she was doing. However, Annabeth knew that "working" was merely a façade. She'd find herself thinking of him when the sun began to set through the windows of the studio. She'd find herself thinking of him when the flurry of snow seemed iridescent against the dark night. She'd find herself thinking of him every time she stumbled upon Jason in her dorm, and she'd even taken to checking up on Jason without Percy needing to request it. It was harder some days with Jason in his quad where reminders of Percy seemed to turn up at every corner, but it was easier having someone who knew the boy who had somehow taken up a large place in her heart.

Her single began to feel far too lonely, especially with both Piper and Rachel away for the month, and whenever that feeling became overwhelming, she took the time to cover her walls in his pictures, the moments he'd captured. When that wasn't enough, she'd open Instagram, hoping to see a new picture or something to cling onto that told her that yes he missed her too. Most days, it wasn't there, and she knew it would probably never be there. She knew he missed her—he'd taken to telling her little details about his day or moments that made him laugh or moments when he wished that she had been there—but when he wasn't texting her, there was much less for her to hold onto tightly.

There were four days left, and she had taken to checking Instagram with greater frequency. There were four days left when her stomach warmed into knots, and a smile covered her face. It was a simple picture, rays of light streaming through the buildings, brightened by only the colors black and white and the shades of grey that fell in between so softly and easily. The caption was all Percy, something minimally related to the picture that lay above it.

"I fell in love with grey in Boston."

 **…**

Zero.

There were zero days left, and Annabeth had been jittery throughout the entirety of it. The professor in charge of her research had given her a soft smile, asking if her friend was coming back. Annabeth had simply smiled before even being able to say yes. Throughout the greater time they spent together in the studio, Annabeth had begun to see the younger professor as a friend, a mentor, and Percy had easily come up into the conversation as they both warmed up to one another. He was a topic that Annabeth could discuss forever, and her constant longing to have him back in their city made his name continue to lie on the tip of her tongue.

Zero, there were zero days, zero hours, zero minutes, zero seconds left, and he was smiling like he hadn't seen her for years. She was certain that if she could see herself, the same would be mirrored on her face, but instead she pressed her head against his chest—missing the warmth that he always seemed to bring.

"So, _this_ is why you stopped snapchatting me pictures of yourself," Annabeth pulled away with a grin, ruffling a hand through his hair and along the shaved sides. He scowled, swatting her hand away to spike the front of his hair again.

"I let her do what she wanted," Percy frowned, pulling at the front of his hairline as if trying to make the shorter, spiked hair grow with each tug. "I figured she was just gonna trim it or something or give me a bowl-cut at the worst. I didn't think she'd do _this_."

Annabeth nodded, pulling his wrist away from his hair. " _This_ is called an undercut, and you're about to end up with a buzzcut if you keep pulling at your hair."

" _This_ ," he exasperated with a shake of his head, "is horrid."

"You look fine."

He shook his head again, starting to bring his hand up to his hair before catching himself. "Showers will be faster," he conceded with a sigh, and Annabeth nodded at that fact. "I just feel like… I don't know. I guess I wasn't expecting it."

"It looks good," Annabeth allowed, shooting him a small smile before rubbing her temple. "Seriously, it's not that bad. Just tighten your snapbacks, and everything will be just like normal eventually."

"You okay?" He frowned, watching her finger run circles into her temple.

She shrugged, ignoring the oncoming headache that had been pressing against her forehead all day. "They changed the lighting in the studio this week, and I think I'm just not used to the brighter lighting. It's pretty harsh now too, and I feel like I just spent the whole time staring at a computer screen or rereading the fine print about the laser cutter five times over before I actually felt okay using it."

"A laser cutter is pretty cool," Percy commented, with a shrug as if every insignificant detail she stated was important. "Do you need advil or anything? Do you think you should try to find another place to do research for the rest of the month?"

"I missed you," she let slip, wishing she could pull the words back into her month.

But the minute a smile graced his lips, she didn't regret the slip one bit. "I missed you more," he teased lightly, speaking before Annabeth could disagree. "It was really nice to be away though. I missed my mom, and it was really great to see Jason done with all of his stress for at least a while. He was more like his normal self again. New York was alright, I guess."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. " _New York was alright, I guess_ ," she mimicked, in a voice much higher than Percy's. "Based on your Instagram posts, you seemed to be pretty happy to be back. Although, I'm still waiting for you to explain that 'I fell in love with grey in Boston' comment. Remember that text you entirely ignored?"

"My dog _did_ bite one of my snapbacks," Percy countered, with great emphasis. "I thought you would actually care, and that's why I texted it to you."

"Ignoring the caption yet again," she teased, enjoying the pink that began to graze his cheeks.

"I was wrong. I didn't miss you one bit."

"Yeah didn't miss my grey eyes one bit, now did you?"

 **…**

For a brief period of mid-January, the ground started to thaw, and so did the barriers within Annabeth. Her touches lingered and no longer ghosted over his skin. Her glances persisted, and she had somehow wound up with another one of his snapbacks and two of his plaid shirts in her dorm room as well as claiming a pair of his smaller sweats and t-shirts at his apartment.

It wasn't purposeful. As the snow fell along the ground once again, the warmth of the inside pulled Annabeth and Percy further and further inwards. She'd take the shuttle to the first stop and walk to his apartment, aimlessly drawing sketches while he milled over the homework from the start of his semester. She'd listen to his complaints about his Intro to Photography class (which he claimed was too boring and easy), and she lightened her teasing just a little when he would frown when recounting his tales. She was still busy during the day until sunset, and his classes still seemed to drain his time. However, in the remaining moments they had during the day, they did their best to soak in all the rays of time.

If Annabeth wasn't at his apartment, then Percy was in her dorm—stopping by her room after speaking to Jason. On days when he finished classes at three, he'd wait in her dorm room until she returned—scowling at the homework he had in front of him. During the evenings when Percy suffered through his Intro to Photography class, Annabeth sketched in his apartment until he returned with enough takeout for two. Yet during the nights, it all seemed to chill, and the howls of the wind kept them both where they were.

They slept side-by-side during the chill of the night, and when the promise of his warmth became too much to turn down, she pressed first their arms then legs against one another until it was the planes of his body melting into hers. His sheets were misted with her presence, and his scent crashed and dove into hers. He brought a pair of sweats and a t-shirt with him one night, and he sent a shy smile when a space in her drawer was already cleared for him.

Once February dawned and there was merely a day until her semester began, Annabeth feared that it would all end. So during that night as they lay in her bed, she grasped his shirt just a little tighter, and willed herself to stay awake for just a little longer—soothed by the tenderness and strength of his hands and the slow, even breaths that pressed against his skin.

 **…**

"So, we were thinking of going to that new gelato place tomorrow at five," Rachel mentioned, scanning through the lenses in front of her. Annabeth watched, guessing ahead which one Rachel would choose: the 35mm—Percy had taught her more than a bit about photography—and in the end being correct.

Annabeth pursed her lips together, letting Rachel finish putting the rest of the lenses away. "I can't. I have plans."

Rachel frowned, properly sitting to level her gaze. "It's Valentine's Day. We agreed last year that the next time you, Piper, and I were all single that we would make it Galentine's Day. Unless, you're…" she trailed, letting heaviness creep into the air.

"I'm single," Annabeth confirmed with a couple beats of silence in between, not letting herself question whether or not that was actually true. "I just… Percy claimed this Friday last week because we didn't see each other much."

"If I remember correctly," Rachel clarified, "you couldn't hang out with Piper and me half the time last week because you were either in the studio or hanging out with Percy. He hasn't been in the office much the past two weeks."

"He's been busy. It's a month into his semester now even though we just started last week. Rachel, we all know how the semester gears up a month into it," Annabeth defended.

Rachel nodded, clasping her hands tightly. "We didn't talk much during January."

"I was busy. I was doing research all day."

"That never seemed to stop you any other time," Rachel pointed out, an edge starting to seep into her voice.

Annabeth sighed, pulling onto the sleeves of her sweater. "Last year, we were all here for the month. This year, you were off in France, and Piper was teaching middle school kids in Italy. I'm _sorry_ that I was never free to talk during the times that you guys were."

"That never seemed to be a problem before," Rachel accused, challenging Annabeth with a raise of her eyebrow.

"Okay," Annabeth let out with a chuckle, no warmth melting into the sound or her eyes, "remind me of a time when we were apart last year, Rachel. If I remember correctly, the only time we were apart was over the holidays, and your family took you abroad for the two weeks without any cellphone service. Then, we were back together in January, and we spent the summer together too. The year before that, I didn't even know you."

"No," Rachel shook her head slightly, "you spent the summer with Luke. We barely spent seven hours together each week."

"That's not true. We lived together."

"It doesn't count if you're sleeping!" Rachel snapped, biting her bottom lip in silence before speaking more softly again. "Annabeth, you lost yourself in Luke that summer, and I just don't want to see that happen again. Before you say anything, I know that I don't know what's happening in your life anymore because we haven't really talked in over a month. I _do_ know what you were like when you were with Luke this past summer, and I do know what you were like when it all ended. I just… I don't want to see that happen to you again."

"You don't need to worry about me," Annabeth slowly iterated, giving each word time to linger.

Rachel sighed, shaking her head with a sad smile. "If I'm not worried about you, then I'm worried about Percy."

"You act like you know everything about him," she shot, knowing that Rachel spent far less time with him than she did.

"No," Rachel chuckled, her own breathy one that was tinged with malice, "I act like he's my friend, Annabeth, and I don't want to see him fall in love with you only for you to tell him that it's not going to happen."

"Alright," Annabeth conceded, shooting a toothy grimace, "then maybe you shouldn't have tried to set us up in the first place."

"He needed _friends_ , Annabeth," Rachel reckoned, pressing her fingertips against the table, "friends. You know, people who care about the other person. He didn't need someone who can't put a label on things or consider how she might feel about someone."

"If you really think that," Annabeth measured, finding the strap of her backpack with her hand, "then you don't know me, Rachel."

The girl sighed, running a hand through her ever-frizzy hair. "I'm just hoping that I'm wrong, and that you're not the same person who I _knew_ you were months ago."

 **…**

"Happy Valentine's Day," Percy said with a smile, pulling out a single blue carnation, crowded by baby breath. "I mean, I know we're not… I just thought that I'd get you flowers. I send my mom flowers every Valentine's Day..." He rambled, watching the frown settle upon her lips. "What's wrong? Look, the flowers aren't anything big, and I can just put them in my room if you don't want them."

Annabeth barely attempted to lighten her frown, ultimately able to barely raise the corner of her lip. "No, really, they're fine. It's just been a long two days."

"You didn't tell me you had a hell week too," he frowned, still holding the flowers slightly in front of him. "You should've told me. I wouldn't have complained about my week as much if I had known."

She smiled, this time without having to try. "It's fine, really. It was just a… bad couple of days more than anything. It wasn't an academic hell week." Annabeth glanced up, truly taking the sight of him in, "You're wearing a collared shirt that isn't plaid, and you're not wearing a hat."

"Still black jeans though," he added in with a shrug, pulling at the navy collar with his free hand. Annabeth took the flowers, sending a thankful nod that she knew Percy would perfectly translate. "I figured I'd try out the whole looking nice thing for tonight."

"You make it sound like we're on a date," Annabeth added.

"We're not," Percy quickly amended, tossing her a small smile. "I just figured we could go somewhere other than Trident or a café this time, and I also need to do laundry still."

"Lovely," she deadpanned, rolling her eyes.

He shrugged, running his hands along the camera at his shoulder. "I'm going to assume you're not impressed with my dirty clothes."

"Your assumption is right."

 **…**

He made reservations, and Annabeth on any other day or any other week would have been more warmed by his gestures and the thought he put into the day. He was the same Percy as normal, despite his different attire, but she struggled to follow the conversation they were having—losing track of what he was saying or what she, herself, was trying to say. She was trying; she really was.

"—nd I actually ordered something other than fried rice for dinner last night."

"Percy, why do you put up with me?"

He frowned, something that had been showing up more often that night than usual, and Annabeth knew that was all her doing. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, we both know that you haven't stopped liking me since you told me last semester, but still you let me…" She shook her head, recalling the nights and days where she happily accepted Percy's warmth. "You let us spend almost every second together and even nights together. Yet, I never… I never give you anything back like I know you'd like."

He paused, narrowing his eyes with slowed words, "I'm not looking for anything back from you, Annabeth. I just want you to be you, and that's all that I need. I mean, I don't… I don't need us to be more than friends, if that's not what you want. I mean I…" He gestured between them, as though trying to make the words appear in the thinning air. "I didn't want— I didn't mean to make you feel pressured this past month or anything. I just— I guess I wasn't really thinking how this might've been for you? So, I'm sorry."

"Percy," she drawled, a saddened expression covering her features, "that's the thing about you. I _don't_ deserve you after everything."

"That's not true," he countered.

"Percy, I don't."

"It's not about deserving me or deserving—" He sighed, searching for the words. "It's just about… It's just… If anything, I don't deserve having someone like you as a friend."

"Now that's not—"

"Come on," he cut off her words, something he almost never did even if she cut him off, "we both know that you're the one at an amazing school, and I just happened to be there at the right times. I'm not like any of the geniuses around you, and you could have any one of them as a friend. They'd be able to actually do homework with you or study with you or just— It's like you said at the beginning of last semester. I'm never gonna get it cause I don't go there. I'm never gonna understand what it's like to finish out a hell week or anything else like that. I'm not going to be able to get you like anyone else there could."

"None of that's true."

He shook his head with malice. "It is true, and we both know that."

"No, it's not true," Annabeth dismissed, a wry moue covering her features. "Half the time it feels like everyone there is just pretending that they have it all together because they feel like they have to, even if they're falling apart. Percy, I'm like that too around them," she stressed, pulling on the ends of her scarf with frustration. "I'm not put together like almost everyone except for Rachel and Piper seems to think."

"Annabeth," he shook his head, "you are put together though. You know what you want and what you're doing."

"No, I'm not. It's—" she huffed, pulling on the scarf and unraveling it slightly. "All of the outfits, the scarves, it's just something that I can control. It's something that I can make sure doesn't all fall apart. That's all it is, and that's why…" She trailed off because she didn't like to think about this herself—because she never let herself think about this.

"You don't have to have everything together, Annabeth," Percy insisted, with a slight shake of his head. "I've never needed you to be that, but I'm fine with you being that person. They're both you. I just— You were the girl sitting in that studio two hours before the sun set, and I just wanted to know _you_. It's stupid, but it's true. And I… I _still_ want to know you, put together or not."

"You don't want to know me," she exasperated, tucking a loose curl behind her ear.

"I wouldn't still be here if I didn't," he stressed, holding her gaze.

"I just," she sighed, glancing to her hands and her painted nails, "need time."

"That's fine. It's fine," he reasoned. "We have time."

It was a missed whisper as their appetizers were set in front of them. "That's what scares me."

 **…**

"Rachel and I aren't friends anymore," Annabeth stated as they settled into a bakery, pressing her fork into the center of a lava cake.

"I know," Percy said simply, sending a sheepish smile when Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "I was in the office helping out with choosing some pictures, and I mean… It was pretty obvious that something was wrong with her."

"Great," Annabeth muttered, running a hand through her loose curls before pinning them behind her ear, "what did Rachel say."

"She said that you guys didn't really know each other," he explained, gesturing towards the cake before pushing his blueberry pie towards her for a trade. "Something about growing apart. She was pretty sad, so I changed the subject. She seemed pretty happy when I did that. I figured you'd tell me if you wanted to, but Valen—Friday made a lot more sense after that."

"I said I was having a bad couple of days," she reminded, pushing her cake towards him.

"I know," he nodded, only taking a small sliver of her cake but protesting when she didn't take a large piece of his pie. "You just never really said what it was, and I figured that at least had something to do with it."

"That's life. We lose people," Annabeth offered, taking another piece of his pie.

Percy scoffed, waving his fork in the air. "I'm glad you're so positive."

"Give me some time," she urged with a sigh. "I'll be positive again."

"Always but you should also work it out with her. I mean— Don't give me that look," he chastised, finishing it out with a sheepish grin before switching their plates once again. "You guys… Rachel always talked about you and how you were the only person who would sit with her in the office to have dinner. I'm just saying, maybe you should order takeout and bring it to the office sometime. Whenever you're ready, I mean… You have time."

 **…**

The idea was to have a relaxing day, something to take her mind off the impeding conversation she needed to have with Rachel and something for Percy to enjoy before he had two exams the following week. Annabeth had suggested a museum, and Percy suggested TV. When he pouted saying his legs were tired and he just wanted to relax, Annabeth conceded, and that was how they wound up on his couch without a single interesting TV show currently on the air.

"Tell me something I don't know about you." It was Annabeth that time who requested it, turning off the TV in Percy's apartment after surfing through all of the channels twice.

"Serious or not serious?"

"Whichever one you're feeling," she added with a shrug, not caring either way so long as it was interesting.

He paused, nodding once, then twice before asking, "You do one, and then I do one?"

"Always," Annabeth muttered, rolling her eyes.

He paused again, his tongue darting out of his mouth, and Annabeth could almost see him shuffling through stories in his mind as his gaze set upwards towards the ceiling. His expression shifted, sometimes to content other times to saddened and even a hint of relief.

"Okay," he began, meeting her gaze again and running his tongue over his lips. "My dad left my mom when I was kid. My mom doesn't really talk about it, so I don't really know what exactly happened. She just… She always says that those moments would have been enough for her, but they weren't because she knew they weren't enough for me. She always says it doesn't matter how long you're with someone you love as long as you're together. She says it better than I just did though." He added with a shrug, tracing the planes of his sofa with his fingertips.

"I think you did fine," Annabeth conceded, glancing briefly to watch his fingers trace out calming shapes.

"She's remarried now to Paul. He's pretty great I guess, but I mean, I still hate Father's Day just a bit," he added with a chuckle that didn't match his stony expression. "I think that was mainly because of my elementary school years where they always forced us to make Father's Day cards. It sucked a lot, and my teachers would always say I could make it for anyone I wanted or make it for them or something. I feel like I should make this happier," he added with a small smile, running his knuckles along the shortened sides of his hair. "I guess the bright side of it is… Well, this is going to sound stupid, and you're going to laugh." Annabeth remained silent, and he followed that with a sigh. "I just go into every relationship, you know, friendship, or anything, telling myself that I need to make every day good enough so that if it's my last, I can talk about those days like my mom talks about her days with my dad."

"I didn't laugh," and Percy shrugged at that briefly holding her gaze, "and it didn't sound stupid, Percy."

"Maybe your wisdom is rubbing off on me," he joked, lightening the air.

"Funny."

His eyebrow shot up, "And yet you still didn't laugh."

"Third time's the charm," she deadpanned, pulling her feet under herself, "or at least that's what they say."

He nodded. "It's your turn."

"I feel like I have to say something serious," Annabeth resounded, pulling briefly on the end of a curl.

Percy shook his head, gesturing towards the open air between them. "You can say whatever you want to say, serious or not."

"I think I _want_ to say something serious," she supplied.

"But you're not sure yet," he theorized, tracing her features with his eyes.

"Give me some time?"

"Of course," he smiled, picking up the remote and throwing in an "always" before suggesting Finding Nemo.

 **…**

"My freshman year, I dated a senior." Annabeth stated, and Percy furrowed his eyebrows, muting the volume on the TV. "I think you gave me enough time," she reasoned, knowing it had been eight days' worth of time.

"Oh yeah, of course," he concurred, setting the remote next to his camera, near his knees.

"It's not really a story I ever tell," she warned, pulling her knees to her chest.

Percy acknowledged, "You don't have to tell me it.

"It's more like…" She trailed off, searching for the words to properly express the feelings swelling within her, "I'm not sure how to tell it."

"Alright, that's fine," Percy stated, tracing the expressions that played out on her face.

Annabeth sighed, pulling on the end of a curl before haphazardly securing it with a pin. "I mean, it started last year—well last school year that is. It sort of started at the end of September, but it was pretty unofficial until the beginning of November. It was just… It was just a couple of kisses at parties during October, but it wasn't really anything serious. I had just started college, and I wasn't exactly looking for a boyfriend."

"That's totally fair," he cut in, and she sent him a weak smile.

"Yeah, I guess," she allowed, breaking his gaze to follow the folds of her hands, "but then, the first week of November, Luke asked me to hangout. For once it wasn't at a party, and he said he wanted to make things official. I guess I should've known because it was right after upperclassmen were actually allowed to date freshmen. I wasn't thinking about any of that, though. I was just thinking about the fact that it was actually more than a thing for him." She shook her head, glancing up at him briefly before running her hands down her shins.

"Basically, it was fine for a while. I mean, we kept things slow even if he sometimes tried to move faster at points. He would always slow things down if I asked. Then, during December, he got a job offer in Texas. He said not to worry about it and that he had applied to places in Boston. He said that no matter what we'd be able to make it work and not to worry about it since he would still be here for all of the summer—working in the Boston office for the Texas company. I brought it up a couple times as to whether or not he could just ask for a transfer to the Boston office permanently, but he always shrugged saying he didn't think he could do it. I'm pretty sure he was lying," she added with a shaky breath.

"Nothing really exciting happened in the spring. He accepted the job offer with the company that had an office in Boston and Texas. He only ever talked about the Boston office, and I didn't really want to ask about the Texas one. Then summer happened. When I wasn't doing research, I spent all of my free time with him. Rachel and I shared a room together over the summer, but I honestly barely saw her. I was always with Luke, and the summer was the first time that I actually stayed the night somewhat frequently.

"Still, nothing happened that I wasn't okay with, but eventually, towards the beginning of June, the conversation of sex came up. I wasn't ready for it, and Luke said that was fine. He told me he loved me and didn't bring it up again until the 4th of July. I mean, we didn't really talk about it then, but things got… heated between us. I stopped it before anything could happen, but he seemed annoyed, saying he didn't know what he was supposed to do—that he was putting me before anyone and everyone else.

"Most of July was pretty rocky. We still didn't talk much about it, and I sort of blamed the rockiness on July 4th. I felt like it was my fault because I knew Luke had accepted the offer in Boston to stay with me. Yet, I couldn't… give all of myself to him."

"But you didn't have to," Percy frowned, tensing and releasing his jaw.

"I know that now," Annabeth stated with a chuckle that lacked mirth. "At the end of July, he brought it up again. He was pretty casual about it, and he wasn't annoyed like he was at the beginning of July. I said I was… I said I thought I might be ready, and well, four days later… You can figure it out, and what happened when we hung-out after that. A couple days after that he told me that we should talk. He told me he had accepted the offer at the Texas Office back in February, but he didn't want to upset me with that. We argued about that, and I said I deserved to know."

"Which you did," Percy cut in, keeping his gaze level on Annabeth.

"He said he didn't want it to get in the way of us." She gestured her hands in front of her as if what got in their way was tangible. "I asked him when he was leaving, and he said in a week. He said he wanted to make the most of it, and well, his idea of making the most of it wasn't exactly talking. The days before he left, I helped him pack, and when we weren't packing his stuff up, we were… making the most of it. I thought we'd be fine, even though I knew the odds weren't in our favor with the distance. The day before he left, I spent the night again, and after we," she grimaced, letting her eyes fall to her hands, "had sex, he told me how he didn't think we could make it work. He told me how he didn't think it was worth trying long distance."

He questioned slowly, "He told you this the night before he left?" piecing the bits of the story together.

"Yep," she spat with a smile, "he told me that the day before he left, right after we had sex, and that wasn't the first time we had sex that day." She sighed, wracking a hand through the end of her ponytail. "I mean, I figured out now that July was rocky because he was only staying with me that long since he thought we'd have sex. The worst part of it all was that his argument for not telling me it wasn't going to work was that he claimed he wanted to make the best of it. He claimed he didn't know until the beginning of August that it wasn't going to work out but that he didn't want to tell me then when we were finally starting to make things work again aka I finally agreed to having sex. When I got mad at him, he claimed that I would only be holding him back and that he was always doing the best for me. End of the story, Rachel and Piper acted like it didn't matter that I barely talked to them over the summer when I came back to them. We've actually never really talked about it, but I was… I thought that it was going to be a forever sort of thing or at least for the next couple of years with Luke, and I got caught up in that."

"I don't what I'm supposed to say." Annabeth frowned, sinking slightly into the couch, and Percy was quick to fix what he said. "I mean, I wanna call him an ass, but I'm not sure if you're okay with that…"

"I'm not in love with him anymore," she declared, an impish smile finding its place on her lips. "He's an ass."

"He's an ass," Percy repeated, and it evicted a true laugh from Annabeth. "Hug?"

She nodded, folding into his arms, "Just took me too long to realize it."

"You couldn't have known," Percy said softly, squeezing her more tightly yet just as tender. "Annabeth, I— If you're in love with someone, you think the world of them or that's at least— That's what everyone seems to say about being in love for the first time."

She pulled back slightly, holding his gaze. "You've never been in love."

He shrugged a shoulder, letting an earnest smile settle on his face. "I mean, I've had… things and whatnot, but it's just never worked out in the end, I guess."

"It'll work out eventually," Annabeth assured, letting the smallest of smiles settle on her lips. "I mean, me of all people— I'm saying that it'll work out eventually, and I guess it's something that I really believe."

"Yeah," Percy nodded once, "just have to give it enough time to work out, I guess."

"Yeah," she approved, "I think you're right."

 **...**

They fell into their normal pattern once again. Their coffee meetings, because Annabeth still would not call them dates, happened twice a week, in part because each of them were too tired for it to only be noon or three in the afternoon. She stumbled into the photography office with enough food for three one day, and Percy merely smiled as she and Rachel put together their broken pieces. Still, things weren't entirely normally.

Percy and Annabeth didn't frequently spend the night together; Percy was careful to always ensure that he left to check on Jason when they were in her room or stayed up later to watch TV on the couch if it was far too late for her to leave his apartment to head back. A part of Annabeth hated him for that, but another part melted and blossomed at just the sight of him curled on the couch.

Annabeth didn't know it yet, but time was up. Time had been up ten days ago when she squeezed his arm longer than need be. It had been up six days ago when their hands had brushed for another stroke that Annabeth clasped their fingers together. It had been up two days ago when her gaze had lingered on his lips, on his hands, and on ears that always turned red whenever he felt embarrassed or dumb.

However, she truly knew it then, "—and I swear that the best part of working at the aquarium was when I'd bring the kids to the dolphins. I mean, dolphins are already pretty great, but then when the dolphins and the kids get excited… It's the best." He met her gaze with his lopsided grin and crashing green with humored blue eyes. "You're looking at me like I'm crazy."

"I'm not," she assured, breaking his gaze with a coating of pink on her cheeks.

"Yes you are," Percy argued, sliding closer to poke her side. "The only reason you're not right now is because you're not looking at me."

She rolled her eyes, but he didn't to see it to know that she did. "That's not what I was looking at you like, and that's not why I'm not looking at you right now."

"Then why aren't you looking at me?" Percy chuckled, poking her side again only for Annabeth to grab his hand to make him stop.

She bit her lip, glancing up at him once again, her hand still holding his. "I'm looking at you like…"

"Like?" he questioned, the joking amusement still present in his tone.

"I'm looking at you like," she spoke softly, pausing to rub her thumb along his hand, "I had all the time in the world, and it's taken me far too long to realize it."

He held her gaze, tilting his head slightly to the side. "And," he paused, lowering his gaze to their intertwined hands, "what am I," only to raise it back to her eyes, "looking at you like?"

"You're looking at me like," she stopped her words to shake her head, breaking this gaze. He moved his fingers along her palm, intertwining their fingers and not just their hands. She smiled, watching the movement of his hand and how it always seemed to relax her. Annabeth met his gaze again. "You're looking at me like I'm worth all that time and more."

He nodded, once, twice, three times in all. "Yeah, that sounds about right."

It was simple, and then she was kissing him. It was soft and long, and his hand tenderly cupped her waist, never wavering from there. His stubble tickled against her palm, and his smiled shined against her lips. And in that moment, right there, right then, she wished she could save it to play over and over again day after day.

 **…**

It wasn't much different between them, at least not to start. In fact, Percy, if anything, was less touchy and more cautious than he ever had been before. He wouldn't hold her hand in public or even brush his hand against hers. Whenever he did, he'd apologize, dropping their hands or moving apart from her. It took three days (really two but she was not going to have that conversation with him at 3:30am) for her to decide it simply would not work for them like that, and she feared the conversation even though she had set her mind on it that night.

He had a coffee waiting for her, when he let her into his apartment, and it was still warm to the touch. He offered her an easy smile, going in for a hug when she went in for a kiss. Yes, it certainly was not working like that.

"I figured you were tired since you texted me good night again at like 4am," Percy explained, gesturing towards the coffee.

Annabeth smiled despite herself, running her hands along the base, "Thanks."

"Yeah, of course, anytime," he shook his head as though it was no big deal. "I'll make you coffee anytime."

She nodded her head, biting her lip lightly. "You're not wearing a snapback," she observed with a frown, running her hand along the shortened side of his hair. He leaned into it unconsciously, and Annabeth's stomach dropped at the thought of the impeding conversation.

"Yeah, I…" He squinted, something he did only when he was truly thinking. "I just… I mean, you said the haircut looked good, and I've started to get used to it. I mean, I'm still gonna wear snapbacks, but I think it works without it too."

"So much thought about your attire," she teased, running her thumb along his temple as he closed his eyes. She cupped her hand under his chin, squeezing and rubbing her thumb along his jawline until he opened his eyes. "Perce, this isn't working out," she paused, biting her lip again, "between us, like this."

He nodded once, as if he saw this coming, breaking his gaze from hers. "Yeah," he said softly, running his hands along his legs.

She bit back a smile, calming at the movements of his hands once again. Annabeth squeezed his chin, lightly pressing it upwards until he met her gaze with saddened eyes. "Percy, it's not working out between us in whatever this current state is," she drew out her words slowly, trying to find the right ones to piece it together, "and I'm— What I'm trying to ask is— If you want to make it official, you know, boyfriend and girlfriend."

"It doesn't sound like a question," he stated, and the smirk on his face made her want to hit it away and kiss him at the same time.

She decided ultimately to tap his cheek. "It's a question, and I mean, I guess I can give you as much time as you need to think about it. However, I'm sort of hoping you won't have to think about what we are as long as I did."

"I—" he paused, the smirk turning into his endearing lopsided grin that caused Annabeth to rub her thumb below her bottom lip. "I mean, yeah, of course, it's a yes."

"Percy," she spoke softly with a chuckle, holding his chin, "you can touch me in public or in private, okay? I promise that if you go over any boundaries that I'll tell you, and you have to promise that you'll do the same for me, okay?"

"Okay, yeah, I promise," he stated, softly, amazement clouding his eyes. "So, then, does this mean, I can kiss you?"

"Yes, you idiot, it means you can kiss me, and you should do it before I'm forced to kiss you."

"You always make things so easy," he teased, pressing his lips to hers.

It wasn't a fast kiss, and it wasn't slow like the one from three days ago. It was somewhere in between, somewhere that fell within the realm of right, the realm that only Percy could seem to find. His hands were cautious, but he eventually, brought one to her arm, letting it run up her shoulder and to her cheek. His smile was evident against her lips, as she pulled him even closer, leaning into his hand. With less hesitation than before, he brought a hand to her hip and slowed down the kiss to gently draw out every last bit of breath.

So when they ran out of breath and their lips finally parted, she kept her eyes closed, letting him rub waves of warmth into her hip bone. He was rubbing her cheek and still sitting close. And if she opened her eyes, she feared it would end, so she didn't; she pressed into his side, wishing to burrow into the moment.

"I'm graduating next year, Annabeth," were the words he chose to say.

She inhaled once more before letting her eyes open. "So positive, Percy," she teased, hoping to play at being light instead of the heavy feeling that had sunk into her.

"No, I mean," he paused, pressing his thumb against her elbow, "I'm graduating next year, and I don't know where I'm gonna end up. I mean, I can't promise that things are going to work out in the end or even next month, but I want— I don't want just days with you where I look back and say how great those days were. I want to be able to look back at those days _with_ you… and I'm not trying to scare you or anything or say that we're going to be together forever. Because really, we could go through hell or something and not make it out. What I suck at saying because I'm rambling is that—" He took a breath, rubbing his thumb in waves along her arm, and Annabeth steadied him with a hand at the base of his neck. "What I'm trying to say is that no matter what hell we end up going through, I'm going to be next to you every step of the way, and I'm always going to give it as much time as you're willing to give and more."

She ran her thumb along his jaw, over his cheek, and along the bottom of his lip. "I don't deserve you, Percy, and I don't think anyone in this world does."

Percy shook his head, shifting a little closer until her legs overlapped his. "It's not about deserving people Annabeth." He pressed his forehead against hers, the longer hairs on his head tickling her forehead. "It's just about the time you're willing to give it, and you've given me just as much time as I've given you."


End file.
